Former Lehigh student admits to bad acid trip

A 19-year-old Lehigh University student who took LSD, got naked and pulled a dorm fire alarm admitted to two misdemeanors in a plea bargain.

Nicholas Tanen of Harleysville was a straight-A engineering student when he went on the acid trip in November and ran from room to room while exposed from the waist down, scaring several co-eds.

On Friday, Northampton County Assistant District Attorney Patricia Broscius withdrew more serious charges and allowed Tanen to plead to disorderly conduct and tampering with a fire alarm, a decision she said she made after meeting with the female students extensively.

"They were quite traumatized by the whole episode, but the same token, acknowledged that the defendant had a lot of things going for him," Broscius said.

Judge Leonard Zito sentenced Tanen, who withdrew from Lehigh University after his arrest, to a year of probation and ordered him to write letters of apology to his victims and police.

"They could have said, 'Throw the book at him, this crazy conduct terrorizing everybody,'" Zito said.

On Nov. 13, university police and local firefighters were called to Stoughton dorm after Tanen pulled the fire alarm. Police said Tanen had entered two dorm rooms and exposed himself to at least three female students, also pulling one of them toward him.

He had faced charges that included attempted indecent assault and indecent exposure.

"Under the circumstances, I don't believe it was motivated by the sexual component," Broscius said of Tanen's actions, "but rather by the LSD."